Yeah, you don't need to hard pan rhythm tracks. Depending on where your percussion and drums sit, you're gonna get different feels. Often I'll pan rhythm guitars about 2/3 of the way in their respective directions.
Remember, songs can have incredible "width" without everything being panned wide. I've found panning is entirely preference based. You do what makes YOUR mix sound good. Maybe it all sounds good in mono. If it does, don't make it stereo because you feel like you have to.
also, when the lead guitar is coming up, split the rhythm guitars to separate tracks and lower the eq from 2-4 khz like 2 db. It will let the lead peak out more. Also, apply minor echo and reverb to your lead for reinforcement, even if you can't hear it in the mix.
Also, solo your drums. turn up your speakers to where you would have the song get as loud as it can get before you feel like you're blasting it.
THEN you turn up your guitars to sit well with the drums. I've found that, if the drums stand out, the mix will sound more powerful.
also also, increasing any guitar eq over 5kz can make the guitars feel "closer"
reason why is because higher frequencies get lost over distance, so if you're hearing a sound source that has high frequency, your brain will interpret it as "closer"